


Cashing In

by izukillme



Series: HyuuIzu Christmas Drabbles [9]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Cashier!Izuki, Christmas, Fluff and Angst, M/M, caring!Hyuuga, depressed!Izuki, flirty!Izuki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:15:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21957247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/izukillme/pseuds/izukillme
Summary: The love story of a tired and broke business major, and an extremely flirty law student cum part time cashier.
Relationships: Hyuuga Junpei/Izuki Shun
Series: HyuuIzu Christmas Drabbles [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1580473
Kudos: 8





	Cashing In

**Author's Note:**

> TW: mention of depression, death, cheating.

“Oh, shit,” Hyuuga curses out loud as he pats his back pocket. It’s the third time this month he’s forgotten his wallet while buying groceries, groceries that he desperately needs.

“Forgot your wallet again?” asks the cashier (who is insanely attractive, by the way), smiling at Hyuuga. “It’s fine, I’ll bill it for you. Only a few items, right? You can pay next time.”

Hyuuga’s face colours. “It’s the third time this month, though.” The third time he’s forgotten his wallet, and the third time this cashier is offering him the groceries for free. The first two times he took the offer with a grateful smile, but he’s starting to suspect something fishy.

“Hey, tell you what,” the cashier starts, leaning in playfully and winking, “throw in a date and your phone number and I might consider making it a lifetime of free groceries.”

Hyuuga goes redder. “I – what?!”

“Come on, cutie,” the cashier laughs. “You can’t have missed the way I look at you, and I know you look at me the same way. A date and your phone number, that’s all I’m asking. After all, giving me a phone number is better than having to give me a different kind of number – _kitakore!_ ”

Hyuuga raises an eyebrow. “ _Kitakore_?” That pun was terrible and he is not about to acknowledge it, even if it came from a crazy beautiful man.

The cashier shrugs, tugging at his lip piercing with his teeth and grinning adorably. “It’s like, my catchphrase. Always say it when I make a pun.”

“Nice.” Hyuuga compliments. The cashier laughs.

“Okay, what about that phone number and that date?” he says teasingly. “My name’s Izuki, by the way. Izuki Shun.”

“Hyuuga Junpei,” Hyuuga says in a strangled voice.

“I know,” the cashier – Izuki – says flippantly. “I’ve billed your groceries about a million times. Thought you were really cute, too.”

“Oh.” is the most eloquent response Hyuuga can come up with.

Izuki smiles. “Anyways, your number? I'd love to _cash in_ on that date - _kitakore_!”

Hyuuga finds himself nodding and writing down his cell even though he doesn’t even know what he’s doing anymore. Izuki takes it with a smile and blows him a kiss, causing Hyuuga to turn bright red and hide his face as he walks to his car.

They schedule the date for Christmas. Izuki seems oddly uncomfortable about it, but he smiles and assures Hyuuga it’s fine. They talk almost every day, and Hyuuga remembers to pay for the free groceries despite Izuki telling him it’s okay.

He’s excited for their date, if he’s being honest. Izuki is a sweet, honest and fun guy, and his puns, though sometimes annoying, really are funny.

So of course when he receives a call from his date, he picks up with a smile on his face.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Junpei.” Izuki sounds – _tired_ and _broken_. A tone of voice he’d never expected to hear from the bubbly cashier.

“Shun?” Hyuuga is on instant alert. “Are you all right?”

“Not really, no,” comes the listless reply. “I’m – well, I hate to do this, but I’m feeling kind of under the weather, and… I don’t think I can make it. I really hope we can reschedule.”

Hyuuga’s eyes narrow. He isn’t best friends with a psychology major for nothing; ‘under the weather’ is not what this is. No, there’s something wrong with Izuki, something _different_.

“Of course,” he says, smoothening his tone of voice. “Absolutely.”

“Thanks,” Izuki says wearily, and the line beeps. Hyuuga stares at his phone for a minute before grabbing his bag and heading to the grocery store.

“Your boyfriend called in sick,” says the cashier with the oily, chin-length black hair. _Hanamiya_ , his nametag reads, and Hyuuga wonders why Izuki didn’t have a nametag.

“He’s new,” explains Hanamiya with a sour look at the badge. “So he doesn’t have that bullshit yet.”

It only takes a little wheedling to get Izuki’s address out of Hanamiya, and the cashier threatens, “You hurt him, I kill you. Izuki’s a nice boy.”

“I’ll kill myself if I hurt him,” Hyuuga answers honestly and hurtles out of the store, determined to get to Izuki as fast as possible.

When he knocks, it takes a while for the door to open. Too long a while. But when it does, he is greeted by the most beautiful and simultaneously the most terrible sight he’s ever seen.

Izuki looks dishevelled, as if he’s been sleeping all day. He’s dressed in boxers and a white tee which clings to his slim but defined frame. His lip ring is gone, making him look years younger. His bedhead is adorable, thinks Hyuuga. And yet his eyes are shadowed, dull and lifeless, nothing like the usual spark that dances in them. There are bags under them, and he’s slouching.

Beautiful, and terrible.

“Hey,” Hyuuga says, breaking the awkward silence. Izuki jerks, as if he’s been woken from a dream, and shakes his head.

“I – what are you _doing_ here?” he asks.

Hyuuga smiles. “Heard you were feeling under the weather, so I brought snacks.”

Izuki looks taken aback. “I – uh – it’s not that kind of feeling ill-” he tries to explain.

Hyuuga interrupts quickly. “I could tell. That’s why I wanted to come over. No one should be alone on Christmas.”

He doesn’t miss Izuki’s obvious flinch at the word ‘Christmas’, and wants to kick himself.

Izuki gives him a wan smile. “It’s okay. I just… 25th December isn’t a good day for me. Ever. I should’ve told you earlier.”

Hyuuga shakes his head. “It was your private thing. It’s cool. I know you tried.”

Izuki laughs weakly. “Come on inside.”

It’s a small one-bedroom apartment, but nicely furnished. A pile of books sits on a desk in the corner, and Hyuuga makes out the words ‘Criminal Law’ on one.

“You’re a law student?” he asks, a little surprised, though he doesn’t know why.

“What, you thought I worked as a cashier full time?” Izuki retorts playfully, tossing a pillow at Hyuuga's head which he just barely misses. Then the dark-haired male sobers, saying, “Yeah. My mother wanted me to help run the family business, but I’ve always wanted to do law, so she let me.”

“That’s pretty nice. I’m a boring old business major,” Hyuuga says.

Izuki smiles but says nothing. An uncomfortable silence falls over them, then, and they sit like dolls on Izuki’s sofa, staring at random things and shifting uneasily.

“All right, elephant in the room,” Hyuuga finally breaks the silence. “What’s up with you and Christmas? If it’s okay for you to tell me.”

Izuki exhales slowly, looking at the ground. “Good things don’t generally happen to me around Christmas, you see.”

“And you think this because?” Hyuuga raises an eyebrow – for all Izuki’s common sense, this is weirdly silly.

“I don’t _think_ it, I know it,” Izuki snaps uncharacteristically. “My father left our family on a Christmas. My first girlfriend cheated on me on a Christmas. My fiancé broke our engagement on a Christmas. My sister died on a Christmas. So yeah, I think you can see why Christmas isn’t good for me.”

Hyuuga doesn’t know what to say, so he settles for looking at the floor and processing the information.

“I just…” Izuki continues, returning to his usual calm tone, but with a hint of sadness in his voice, “I like you, like, a _lot_. And I don’t want to fuck this up, okay? That’s why I stayed away, because I get depressed around this time and I have shit luck. I don’t want that screwing with us.”

That insecure bullshit coming out of such a beautiful person’s mouth is what makes Hyuuga snap at last. 

"Well, _fuck_ luck," he says vehemently. "Maybe what happened to your sister was bad luck, but the way I see it, the rest of those were just giant douches. They had the most amazing person in the world and they decided to leave him. That's not your fault or your bad luck; it's their idiocy for willingly losing you." 

Izuki's mouth is slightly open and his cheeks are pink. He seems about to say something, but Hyuuga continues on his tirade. 

"I'll stay! No matter what happens, I'll stay. You're too precious to let go of; I won't let any bad luck come in our way." 

Izuki's looking at him now, and there is light in his eyes once more. Hyuuga pants, coming down from the high he'd been on, and his cheeks flush with the exertion. 

"Thank you," Izuki says shyly, quieter than Hyuuga's ever heard the flirty cashier, and then he pulls Hyuuga down by his collar and kisses him. The kiss tastes like… well, it tastes like what Hyuuga imagines love would, and that's when he knows that wherever he goes, whatever he does, he will never find another that fits him so perfectly as Izuki. 

Not that he didn't know that already, but it's nice to cement it a little more. 

**Author's Note:**

> Whoo boi, we might actually get 12 fics done! Fucking wild!


End file.
